Monitoring the depth of sedation in the pediatric ICU patient: where are we, or more importantly, where are our patients?

Analgesia, Sedation, Paralytics, Delirium, and Iatrogenic Withdrawal

The care of the critically ill child often includes medications used for the relief of pain and anxiety. Children have key differences in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics compared with adults that should always be considered to achieve safe medication use in this population. Pain must be addressed, and sedative use should be minimized when possible. Our understanding of sedation safety is evolving, and studies have shown that minimizing exposure to multiple medications can reduce the burden of delirium and iatrogenic withdrawal.

A comparison of gradual sedation levels using the Comfort-B scale and bispectral index in children on mechanical ventilation in the pediatric intensive care unit

Objective

Compare the scores resulting from the Comfort-B scale with the bispectral index in children in an intensive care unit.

Methods

Eleven children between the ages of 1 month and 16 years requiring mechanical ventilation and sedation were simultaneously classified based on the bispectral index and the Comfort-B scale. Their behavior was recorded using digital photography, and the record was later evaluated by three independent evaluators. Agreement tests (Bland-Altman and Kappa) were then performed. The correlation between the two methods (Pearson correlation) was tested.

Results

In total, 35 observations were performed on 11 patients. Based on the Kappa coefficient, the agreement among evaluators ranged from 0.56 to 0.75 (p<0.001). There was a positive and consistent association between the bispectral index and the Comfort-B scale [r=0.424 (p=0.011) to r=0.498 (p=0.002)].

Conclusion

Due to the strong correlation between the independent evaluators and the consistent correlation between the two methods, the results suggest that the Comfort-B scale is reproducible and useful in classifying the level of sedation in children requiring mechanical ventilation.

A review of the utility of EEG depth of anaesthesia monitors in the paediatric intensive care environment

OBJECTIVES

This paper aims to bring together current evidence regarding the use of depth of anaesthesia monitors (DoAM) as objective measures of sedation for paediatric intensive care (PIC) patients.

BACKGROUND

Delivering appropriate dosages of sedative agents, to individual PIC patients, is important to reduce the many risks of over- or under-sedation. Although based on adult anaesthesia, DoAMs could offer increased objectivity to the titration of sedative agents for children in PIC. This article synthesises the current available evidence from studies investigating DoAM use in the PIC environment.

METHOD

Literature regarding DoAM use in PIC was reviewed, from 1996 and August 2011, after EMBASE, PubMed, CINAHL and ProQuest Dissertation & Theses Database were searched using key search terms.

FINDINGS

Fourteen original research articles addressing sedation assessment using DoAMs in PIC were identified. The main findings were that DoAMs generally have a moderate or poor correlation with sedation scores and their performance varies in varying clinical settings. DoAMs do not make reliable conclusions about depth of sedation of individual PIC children, and can be influenced by children's age.

CONCLUSION

Evidence to support DoAMs in the PIC setting is currently not sufficient to advocate their routine use in clinical practice.

Age is of influence on midazolam requirements in a paediatric intensive care unit

AIM

To test that age is of influence on midazolam requirements during prolonged mechanical ventilation in critically ill children.

METHODS

Retrospective observational study of children (28 days-18 year) admitted between January 1st 2002 and January 1st 2005 who needed controlled mechanical ventilation for 5 days and initial sedation with midazolam were included. Exclusion criteria were psychomotor retardation, therapeutic use of midazolam, ventilator weaning within 5 days, kidney or liver failure.

RESULTS

A total of 1186 children were admitted, of which 58 children were included. The children were divided into three age groups: 28 days-1 year (n = 28), 1-4 years (n = 16) and older than 4 years (n = 14). Within 2 days the children age 1-4 years received the maximum midazolam dosage (0.3 mg/kg/h). In addition, the mean total dose of midazolam was higher at all days for this age group. At day 5 none of the children between 1 and 4 years could be sedated with midazolam alone.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data showed that children between 1 and 4 years needed higher doses of midazolam as compared to children who were younger and older. Furthermore, we observed that midazolam alone is a poor sedative for all age groups. The influence of and mechanisms for possible age related effects on midazolam requirements remain to be elucidated, as well as the position of midazolam as a first line drug for PICU sedation.